03/08/14 11:18 - ID#58772

Allstate doesn't love us.

Our insurance company, Allstate, is going to cancel, nay, strike that, non-renew (I don't understand the difference but all the Allstate people insist that it is important without actually telling me why) our home owners policy unless we complete what I think is completely unnecessary electrical work. Full disclosure, I was working apprentice electrician in my mis-spent youth. But that is what it is. Allstate says jump in the lake, we jump in the lake. Or find another insurance company.

So brothers and sisters and distant cousins, I beseech thee. Can you recommend a good electrician? And more importantly, can you recommend an insurance company and/or an independent insurance agent that is willing to insure 100+ year old homes on Buffalo's west side?

Please and Thank you

uncutsaniflush writes at 11:46:31 03/09/14 - Comment #71419: Thanks for the heads up on American Modern. Right now, I don't want to have anything to do with Allstate or Allstate related companies. I have been insured by Allstate since 1990. I've never filed a home owners insurance claim. I feel f#cked over. I would rather pay some other company more money than deal with Allstate. Given the reality of the insurance market in the slums of Buffalo (not my description) , I know that there is a chance I might have to eat my words. I find it hard to believe that Allstate (and it's minions are the only companies that are willing to insure houses on the West Side.

janelle writes at 10:51:49 03/09/14 - Comment #71418: Allstate dropped their insurance on one of the rental properties we own for pretty typical big house non-emergency issues and the agent I used shifted us to another insurance company. Apparently when you get cancelled by Allstate your Allstate agent will push you to this company: :::link::: so you can check them out.

uncutsaniflush writes at 10:09:07 03/09/14 - Comment #71417: Thank you (e:janelle) and (e:jessbob) for the responses.

(e:janelle) - what you say about cancel vs. non-renewel makes sense. It would have been nice if someone from Allstate explained it to me that way. Btw, I've been in touch with Bill.

(e:jessbob) - I'm not sure that your experience makes me feel better about continuing to be insured by Allstate. I think I may take and post a photo of why Allstate wants to drop us to show how trivial it is. Someone painted the electrical wiring on the exterior of our house. Some of the paint has peeled.

janelle writes at 08:04:42 03/09/14 - Comment #71416: While the impact of cancel versus renew in practice is the same in that it leaves you with no insurance, I think I understand the importance of the difference to Allstate - and possibly to you. I would guess that cancellation would be a red strike against you in the future because a cancellation would mean that you did something wrong. And then it would be difficult for you to get insurance with someone else if you have a history of cancelled policies. A non-renewal of your insurance plan would not necessarily imply that you were at fault for anything.

I use Allstate too and have had issues along that line. If you want advice, Bill and Jen also had to work through issues on their house per their insurance company.

Good luck!

janelle writes at 07:58:21 03/09/14 - Comment #71415: Ask your neighbors down the street, Bill and Jen. I think Bill would have a recommendation for you.

jessbob writes at 03:25:07 03/09/14 - Comment #71413: I don't live in Buffalo anymore, but I had a similar problem with Allstate dropping my homeowners insurance for bs (the sidewalk in front of my house is uneven - but that is city property, not mine). I have heard similar stories of Allstate being persnickety. I have State Farm now - more expensive, but they haven't jerked me around so far.

Permalink: Allstate_doesn_t_love_us_.html
Words: 127
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 03/08/14 11:18

Category:

10/30/13 08:52 - ID#58213

Invisible Windows?

Got this error on the work laptop. What are invisible windows?

Permalink: Invisible_Windows_.html
Words: 12
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 10/30/13 08:52

Category: linux

05/30/12 10:28 - ID#56501

Beefy Miracle

I upgraded the hex-core box to Fedora 17 (code name Beefy Miracle) using preupgrade with no problems.

Update 05/31/12: I'm getting a kernel panic when I shutdown/reboot, see

for a fix.

Update 05/31/12 Sound is broken. No solution yet

Update 06/01/12 Sound working. A known bug was a PAM permission problem that could be fixed by running authconfig --updateall . I also upgraded to a 3.4x ccrma kernel So it could be either or both.

Permalink: Beefy_Miracle.html
Words: 77
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 06/01/12 08:30

Category: polish songs

05/04/12 10:19 - ID#56424

Do Laury

Yet another Polish art rock song with texts by some dead white guy named CzesÅ‚aw MiÅ‚osz. Despite being dead, white and a guy, MiÅ‚osz was a great poet.

I like the poem and the song. I love the video.

Permalink: Do_Laury.html
Words: 47
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 05/04/12 10:19

Category: small favours

04/02/12 10:54 - ID#56310

Your Gorilla Didn't Get Loose

I ran into (e:mrmike) at Weggies today. And it wasn't by the beer department. So ha! After listening to me whine about my job, he quoth "at least your gorilla didn't get loose."

Truer words were never spoken.

That being said. My Lobsters Gorilla.

Permalink: Your_Gorilla_Didn_t_Get_Loose.html
Words: 49
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 04/02/12 10:59

01/16/12 11:17 - ID#55929

English Wikipedia anti-SOPA blackout

Today, the Wikipedia community announced its decision to black out the English-language Wikipedia for 24 hours, worldwide, beginning at 05:00 UTC on Wednesday, January 18 (you can read the statement from the Wikimedia Foundation here). The blackout is a protest against proposed legislation in the United Statesâ€”the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the PROTECTIP Act (PIPA) in the U.S. Senateâ€”that, if passed, would seriously damage the free and open Internet, including Wikipedia

read more at

All hail the Corporate States of America!! Disagree at your own peril.

Permalink: English_Wikipedia_anti_SOPA_blackout.html
Words: 103
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/16/12 11:18

01/13/12 09:11 - ID#55908

Hello World, Hello COBOL (updated with code))

Well, I got open-cobol to compile and run a simple "Hello Word" program. So it works.

It seems that Cobol is still in the punch card age in which commands have to start in the 8th column. But open-cobol has a freestyle option.

(e:paul) wanted to see some code:

Here's the sort of COBOL"hello world" I remember from my college days:

000100 IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
000200 PROGRAM-ID. HELLOWORLD.
000300
000400*
000500 ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
000600 CONFIGURATION SECTION.
000700 SOURCE-COMPUTER. RM-COBOL.
000800 OBJECT-COMPUTER. RM-COBOL.
000900
001000 DATA DIVISION.
001100 FILE SECTION.
001200
100000 PROCEDURE DIVISION.
100100
100200 MAIN-LOGIC SECTION.
100300 BEGIN.
100400 DISPLAY " " LINE 1 POSITION 1 ERASE EOS.
100500 DISPLAY "Hello world!" LINE 15 POSITION 10.
100600 STOP RUN.
100700 MAIN-LOGIC-EXIT.
100800 EXIT.

Here's the same thing freestyled in open-cobol.

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. HELLO-WORLD.
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
DISPLAY 'Hello world!'.
STOP RUN.

Permalink: Hello_World_Hello_COBOL_updated_with_code_.html
Words: 117
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/13/12 09:30

Category: linux

01/12/12 10:33 - ID#55897

Cobol Here I come

Based on conversations at (e:pmt)'s New Years party, being a dinosaur with some vague 30 year old course work in Cobol makes me somewhat marketable if I brush up on my Cobol coding skills.

Well, there is something called Open Cobol that is Cobol compiler that runs on linux. Fedora has it in it's repositories.

Hopefully, I can get it to work. And code, code, code my way into a new job.

Permalink: Cobol_Here_I_come.html
Words: 72
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/12/12 10:33

01/12/12 10:25 - ID#55896

Work 1, Beer Club 0

I hope y'all had a fun time at Beer Club. Perhaps if Jupiter aligns with Mars and Peace guides the Planets or I get fired, I'll make it to Beer Club in February.